Consultations Completed

Thank you to everyone who participated in our recent survey regarding the proposed changes to our rechargeable repair procedure. Your input is invaluable and helps us shape our approach to maintaining high service standards.

The survey results have provided important insights, and addressing some concerns raised during the survey is essential. We understand that change can sometimes be met with uncertainty, and we want to ensure that our intentions are clear.  Read the procedure here. 

Survey Highlights 

We received 58 responses, with a balanced split 29 in favour of the proposed changes and 29 opposed.  

We’ve carefully reviewed the comments provided in response to the survey, and we’d like to take this opportunity to address some of the most common concerns that have been raised: 

1. Clarity and Transparency:

Several respondents pointed out the importance of being clear and transparent in our process. We acknowledge this concern and will work to ensure that our procedure is easy to understand for everyone. We aim to create a transparent process that everyone can navigate without confusion.  

2. Non-Essential Repairs and Financial Hardships:

We understand that unforeseen financial difficulties can arise and aim not to use repairs as a bargaining tool. We recognise that every tenant’s circumstances are unique, and we’ll work to find fair and reasonable solutions for non-essential repairs. 

3. Fair Recharges:

Some of you expressed concerns about the potential charges for repairs, especially those that are not due to malicious or intentional damage. We will review our approach to ensure that any rechargeable repair is agreed upon individually to reach a fair, reasonable, and affordable payment. In some instances, we may even waive the cost of a recharge. 

4. Tenant Empowerment:

Your suggestions for improvement are invaluable, and we appreciate the thoughtful ideas shared in response to the survey. We’ll consider your requests, such as assisting with specific repair needs when needed, to enhance the quality of our service. 

Our intention is not to charge for every repair but to ensure we can continue providing the best possible service to our community. Chargeable repairs are primarily aimed at addressing malicious or intentional damage, and we will handle each case individually to find the most appropriate solution. We’re here to support you and consider financial situations and other relevant factors. 

Once again, we thank each of you for participating in the survey. Your input is instrumental in shaping the future of our repair procedure, and we’re committed to making decisions that benefit everyone.  

If you have further questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Together, we can create a community where everyone feels supported, heard, and empowered. 

A small consultation took place with residents of the scheme in February 2023 about what they would like to see improved. Feedback provided was that the Communal lounge needed some updating and to make it feel more welcoming. We have consulted with the residents and agreed to update the lounge decoration and also provide new chairs and a sofa to make it feel more homely.

Telephone consultation completed March 2023 with 20 tenants who have received a recent foodbank voucher, this was to determine how the overall experience of using the food bank from start to finish was. Questions were also asked about other food support and services within communities to work with Blaenau Gwent Food Partnership on better food access.

A door knocking survey was completed in March 2023 covering some of the Sirhowy area. This was to ask questions about the neighbourhood on what tenants liked and disliked to help shape our future neighbourhood work. We will be returning in the coming months to collect further views.

A Consultation took place at our offices in March 2023 where tenants were invited to comment on our new proposed tone of voice document. This information will now be used to update the tone of voice document. This document will evolve as it needs to and we will continue consulting with customers in order to get a broader range of views.

Thank you to everyone who responded to our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I) consultation. The feedback you have given us has been invaluable in helping to shape our strategy. We received 40 responses to the short survey about the strategy. 

When asked, 36 people said yes, they thought that Tai Calon should have an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion strategy but 4 people answered no.  

20 people told us that they thought we were focusing on the right areas. However, 11 people said we weren’t focusing on the right areas in our ED&I Plan, and one person left the section blank. 

 When asked is there anything we hadn’t thought of that you like to add, 22 responded to this question, with 7 of those saying no.  

We wanted to find out what our customers thought of our website and what improvements we could make when developing our new one.

We asked customers to complete a brief survey on what they used our website for, along with what they liked and disliked. We also held a focus group to discuss things in more detail.

Our customers told us that reporting repairs, paying rent, looking for homes and finding out what is going on in the local community was important.

We also had great feedback on the website itself which identified areas we can improve, which included:

• Accessibility issues, the site does not work on Android and the main colours on the site do not work well together if you have a visual impairment!
• Customers find it hard to find the information they need as everything is very wordy and they do not have to time to sift through the abundance of information.
• Would love a clearer careers page where all the job descriptions sit on the page rather than going elsewhere.
• Would love to see more meet the teams across the business rather than just senior managers
• Would like a page on repairs – a list of what we (Tai Calon) can complete and if we do not, a list of Tai Calon approved companies who you can call
• Add information on repairs tenants could potentially fix themselves e.g. – draining a radiator, temporary fix to a small leak until we can come out

The feedback will now be used by our communications team to make sure our new site meets our customer needs both now and in the future.

We recently asked our customers for their opinions on what are the services we deliver that matter the most. We also wanted to know what our customers thought about how affordable their rent was.

We had 194 responses and our Board have used this information to help them make decisions on how much rent customers will need to pay from April 2022.

Here’s a summary of what you told us.

• 69% said their home was affordable
• The top 3 most valuable services we offer were repairs and maintenance, customer services and estate services
• The top 3 most important things that you told us make a home were a well-maintained home, a safe and secure home, and a peaceful neighbourhood.
• 64% either strongly agreed or agreed that as the cost of delivering services goes up, we should  protect the level of service we offer.
• 44% said that cost of rent was a major factor in where they choose to live

We also had some really helpful feedback on what customers thought about how fair we are in setting rent and other charges, we will be taking this feedback and using it to help to continue to improve the way we deliver services, particularly repairs and maintenance.

You can watch our Facebook Live consultation video here

You can watch our Facebook Live consultation video here.